All major sports around the world have had so much financial success over the past couple of decades largely because of broadcasting TV/Media rights sale. As sports competitions generate more money, top athletes in return have their earnings sky rocketed over the years. Today we take a look at 10 competitions with highest prize money across all sports.
Highest Prize Money In Sports:
Football is a global sport and undisputedly some of the major tournaments of football are the most watched events in the world. From professional leagues like Premier League and other European leagues to national team competitions like FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro generate billions of dollar every year via broadcasting rights sale. Governing bodies of these competitions distribute/share most of the revenue with teams/federations as prize money. So its inevitable that football competitions are the highest paying tournaments of any sport.
Premier League prize money fund is the highest in the world of sport:
English Premier League is the most watched professional league in the world. Organized by Premier League and English football federation, it sold it domestic and international broadcasting rights for over $13 billion (£8billion) on three year cycle. 95% of this money is distributed among 20 teams in Premier League where even if they team finished bottom of the table they can still clear over $130 million (£100m gbp). That makes Premier League the highest paying sports competition in the world.
Similarly UEFA Champions League, Europa League also award prize money to participating teams where eventual winners can take home as much as $75 million. However these competitions are season long and the revenue is shared pretty much equally so its unfair to take it as prize money.
However FIFA World Cup which takes place every 4 years is a knockout competition where governing body FIFA actually award prize money. $700 million fund is expected for FIFA World Cup 2022 where eventual winners will pocket around $50 million for winning the tournament. So it will be fair to use knockout tournaments in ranking the competitions with highest prize money.
Lets take a look at top 10 highest paying sports competitions in the world across all major sports.
| NO# | COMPETITION | SPORT | TOTAL FUND | WINNERS SHARE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Premier League | Football | $4 billion (yearly) | $200 million (yearly) |
| 2 | Other Top European Leagues | Football | $1 billion (yearly) | $80 million (yearly) |
| 3 | UEFA Champions League | Football | $1.5 billion (yearly) | $75 to $90 million (yearly) |
| 4 | Formula 1 | Racing | $810 million (yearly) | $100 million+ |
| 5 | FIFA World Cup | Football | $700 million | $50 million |
| 6 | UEFA Euro | Football | $449 million | $39 million |
| 7 | UEFA Europa League | Football | $679 million | $50 million+ |
| 8 | World Series (MLB) | Baseball | $75 million | $25 million |
| 9 | Wimbledon | Tennis | $49.4 million | $3.2 million |
| 10 | US Open | Tennis | $53.4 million | $3.8 million |
| 11 | French Open | Tennis | $46 million | $3 million |
| 12 | Australian Open | Tennis | $42 million | $2.8 million |
| 13 | FedEx Cup | Golf | $35m | $10 million |
| 14 | World Series Poker | Pokar | $62m | $10 million |
| 15 | The International 2021 | eSports (Dota2) | $40 million | $12 million |
| 17 | Cricket World Cup | Cricket | $12 million | $4 million |
| 16 | Rugby World Cup | Rugby | $10 million | $2 million |
| 18 | MotoGP | Racing | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| 19 | Super Bowl (NFL) | American Football | Bonus payment to players from $35m playoff fund | |
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